Yield: 8 Servings
Base Ingredients:
- 1 lb. bucatini pasta, penne or ziti
- 4 oz. feta cheese
- 2 egg whites
Ingredients for the meat sauce:
- 2 lbs. lean ground beef
- 2 medium-sized red onions, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 5 oz. red wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 whole clove
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- To taste salt and pepper
Ingredients for the bechamel:
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 cup butter
- 34 oz. milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano,
- Pinch, grated nutmeg
- To taste salt and pepper
- Parmigiano-Reggiano, for sprinkling
Directions:
- Place a large pan over medium-high heat; add olive oil and chopped onions and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic, tomato paste and beef. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon and brown for 4 to 5 minutes. Pour in red wine and let evaporate. Add canned tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon, clove, bay leaf and season. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer with the lid on for about 30 minutes, until most of the juices have evaporated. After the meat is cooked, discard bay leaf, clove and cinnamon.
- FOR THE BECHAMEL: Melt butter in a large pan over low-medium heat. Add the flour, whisking continuously to make a paste. Add warmed milk in small batches, whisking continuously in order to prevent your sauce from getting lumpy. If the sauce still needs to thicken, boil over low heat while continuing to stir. Remove the pan from the stove and add the egg yolks, salt, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and grated cheese. Whisk quickly, in order to prevent the eggs from setting. Season with salt to taste.
- Cook the pasta 2 to 3 minutes less than the package instructions, so that they don’t get mushy after turning out of the oven later. Drain the pasta and stir in the egg whites and the feta cheese and mix gently with a spatula. ‘Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-by-14-inch pan. Layer the pasta, top with the meat sauce and even out. Top with the bechamel sauce and smooth out with a spatula. Top with grated cheese and bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes, until crust turns a light golden brown.
- Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes before cutting.
